The present invention generally relates to cutting methods and equipment, and more particularly to an apparatus capable of slicing very soft food products, such as bread dough, fresh meat, etc., to consistently have a desired size and shape.
Various types of machines and equipment are known for use in cutting, slicing, and shredding food products. Notable examples include rotating cutting wheels of the types disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,801 to Jacko, U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,284 to Bucks, U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,702 to Bucks, U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,709 to Bucks, U.S. Pat. No. 6,460,444 to Jacko, U.S. Pat. No. 6,792,841 to Bucks, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,920,813 to Bucks. Notable commercial embodiments of rotating cutting equipment include the TranSlicer 2000® and the MicroSlice® wheel, both of which are manufactured by Urschel Laboratories, Inc.
FIGS. 1 and 2 represent fragmentary plan views of a cutting wheel 10 configured generally in accordance with the above examples, and depict the initiation (FIG. 1) and near completion (FIG. 2) of a cutting operation performed on a food product 18. The cutting wheel 10 is made up of knives 12 extending as radials from a hub 14 to a rim 16, which together define a cutting plane through which the food product 18 is conveyed. Cutting wheels of the type shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 have been successfully used to cut and slice a wide variety of food products, including vegetables and dairy products, to yield consumer-ready food products having consistently desirable sizes and shapes. However, difficulties can be encountered when using cutting wheels on very soft, pliable food products, such as bread dough, fresh meat, etc. In particular, it has been observed that a protrusion or “tail” may be formed on such products at the very end of the cutting action. As an example, if the food product 18 represented in FIGS. 1 and 2 is cylindrical or rod-shaped bread dough, the resulting cut product typically has an appearance similar to that represented in FIGS. 3A and 3B, which are top and side views, respectively, of a cut product 20. As evident from FIG. 3A, the product 20 has acquired an oval or elliptical shape from being deformed during the cutting operation, and FIGS. 3A and 3B show the product 20 as having a tail 22 formed during the final cutting sequence (FIG. 2) as a result of the product 18 yielding and tearing instead of being cleanly cut. While this shape may be acceptable for some products, in other cases the desire is for the product 20 to have a uniform disk shape.